A full 99.9 percent of North Korea's wireless users are
connected to a 3G network, namely the mostly-Egyptian-owned Koryolink, which
was launched in December 2008. Why did it prove so popular? Because
it's pretty much the only option -- most people in North Korea were
forbidden from using the previously-existing SunNet 2G network
after the Ryongchon train explosion in 2004.

At the end of the Sepember 2010, Koryolink had 301,199
subscribers -- just over one percent of the country. Not too
impressive by international standards, but more than quadrupling in a year from the 2009 total of
69,261.

Second in the rankings comes Japan, with a 3G
penetration of 94.6 percent, and South Korea follows a little
further behind with 71.7 percent. Australia and Taiwan follow with
64.6 percent and 58.1 percent respectively, and Sweden sneaks into
the >50 percent club as the only non-Asia-Pacific member with
55.4 percent. The UK lingers just below 40 percent.